Physician recommendation - Arizona Mayo Clinic

Hi Joan,
If you would like to seek help from Mayo Clinic, you will find contact information for Minnesota, Arizona and Florida on this webpage http://mayocl.in/1mtmR63
Dr. Timothy Aksamit at Mayo Clinic, Rochester is a leading expert in MAC. All of the physicians of pulmonary departments at the 3 locations work together, meaning that you get the same level of expertise at all 3 campuses.

Allow me to introduce you to a few members who I think can provide more details and recommendations according to their experiences.
Linda @lindam272 lives in Arizona. @cld120 @kaystrand @auntnanny and @jentaylor are just a few of the members here who followed at Mayo Clinic, Rochester. And, of course, Terri @windwalker, is at Mayo Clinic, Florida. Terri is currently outrunning hurricane Irma. It may be a few days before she responds.

Hi, Linda...... I went to Rochester (10-hour drive) two years ago and it was a Godsend for me. I was placed with Dr. Teng Moua who I have found to be a great doctor and personality. Very kind. He is a pulmonologist and also works critical care in the hospital there. There is a portal by which to reach him (and he gave me his cell pho number although I've never chosen to use that). I can go through the portal or call his medical secretary/staff and if he is in the hospital, a colleage of his will answer my questions and will also prescribe if I'm needing an antibiotic. I think you would be happy there. I have been. I've not gone back in two years but they still continue to treat me and I keep contact with them. There's no charge for the communications in any way. I hope you'll be happy there too and please let me know after you've been.

Thank you, Colleen. I've read information about Dr. Aksamit, who seems to be a leading expert in the field. Perhaps Linda @lindam272 can provide recommendations for the Arizona office.

If you do use Dr. Moua, feel free to mention my name. I've been enough trouble that I'm sure he knows me -- Ha!

I see Dr. Justin Seroy Infectious Disease doc out of Banner Medical but I'm not sure I'm crazy about him. My plan has been to research some other doctors in the area that I got off the NTM website but I haven't had time. Dr. Seroy interned under Dr. James Cook at Loyola who, I understand, is another top doc in this field. Linda M

Thank you, Linda. The NTM site listed Lewis J. Wesselius, M.D. at the Arizona Mayo Clinic. I might ask for an appointment with him.

I am a current patient of Dr. Kasperbauer at NJH and am wanting a second opinion and I live in CA. Do you have any suggestions, maybe the Mayo clinic in Arizona?

I had contacted NJH to obtain a second opinion for my husband. I knew that I would not be able to obtain a referral from Kaiser here in Northern California, so I told them it would be out of pocket. They quoted a price of $30,000 for that, with a discount of 30% for people paying cash, which would be mean a cost of at least $21,000 without including airfare, hotel, food. We would be there for 5 days. I then contacted Arizona Mayo, and they said they needed a Kaiser referral, though I told them we'd be paying out of pocket. I think they misunderstood me. I then called the Rochester Mayo, and they were fine with self-referral and quoted a price of $5000, which would be used to pay for any tests as well as the appointment. If there was money left over at the end of the time there, they would refund the extra money. They said the appointment would last 2-4 days. I went ahead and made an appointment with Rochester for a Wednesday, expecting that the appointment would be over by Friday. I think the Mayo Clinic in Arizona is the place to go for convenience. Another member of this forum said that all the Mayo Clinics are in communication with each other and that any would be good to go to.

@dmarks , if you can swing the trip to Az to go to the Mayo, I strongly urge you to do so. If you have social security, they will pay 80%. I was sick as a dog for years and was very close to needing a double lung transplant 4 years ago. The doctors at the Mayo in Jacksonville turned it around for me. I have improved a great deal, and have a much better quality of life. I have not coughed in a year and a half! I used to cough violently from sun-up to sun-down.I was not put on the BIG 3 antibiotics. My doctor does not believe in doing that unless one is severely infected (highly colonized). We have found that there are different schools of thought on how to treat this disease. I can only speak for myself, my doctor's way was the ticket for me. We are here for you, if you want to discuss anything at all.

Terri, I tried calling to get in with one of the AZ Mayo Clinic docs who was recommended on the NTM website and was told that they aren't taking any government insurance at this time because they are so full. I have Medicare with a Humana supplement and it was a no go for me.

Sorry I've been MIA for a couple of months. Was out of town then not feeling well for a while then ended up in the hospital for a couple of weeks with an unexpected surgery. Back on my feet now, but have a bad feeling about what all that did to my lungs. Having a bad cough and lots of mucous. Just submitted a sputum sample last week so need a few weeks for that to percolate and see if anything grows. Linda